As the body of Christ, we are living members of Christ's crucified, resurrected, and ascended body. In the New Testament, Paul describes our unity as the work of the Holy Spirit in the creation of a new humanity, which functions under Christ's leadership. It is the Spirit who guides and gifts and graces us with unique and precious gifts given to us for ministry. But, do all of us have a role?Full Transcript below, or at missiongap.org/podcasts'Made for' CONTRIBUTORS:Andrew Scott – From Ireland, living in the USA. Serves as President of OM in the US, and author of “Scatter: Go Therefore and Take Your Job With You”Belén Peters – From Chile, living in the USA. Serves as Career Advisor with Elevalto, career advisors for Jesus followers looking to take their life and skills to another part of the world.Decio De Carvalho – From Brazil, living in Puerto Rico. Serves as Executive Director of COMIBAM, an alliance of national mission groups across twenty-five Ibero-American countries.Ewout van Oosten – From the Netherlands, living in the Netherlands. Serves as Global Director of TeenStreet, a youth discipleship movement in over 50 countries.Glenn Packiam – From Malaysia, living in the USA. Serves as Associate Senior Pastor of New Live Church, and author of “Blessed Broken Given: How Your Story Becomes Sacred in the Hands of Jesus”Jessica Shumba – From Zimbabwe, living in Zimbabwe. Serves as National Director of OM in Zimbabwe, mobilising Zimbabwean Jesus followers to share Gods love.Katherine Lee – From the USA, living in the USA. Serves as Content and Creative Director for the Fuller Leadership Platform at Fuller Theological Seminary.Lawrence Tong – From Singapore, living in Singapore. Serves as International Director of OM, a global community of Jesus followers, united to share God’s love with those who don’t know it.Vaibhav – From India, living in India. Serves among people unreached with the love of Christ, focusing on the Tribals, the rag pickers, farmers and migrant workers. (Last name omitted for security)Bible readings: Mason Peters, Mariela Morbelli, Carla Moran, Matt Tooker, Anthea Godsmark, Philip GodsmarkHosted by: Geoff Peters - Geoff is a huge fan of coffee and market research, but what really gets his heart pounding is inspiring people to share God’s love with the world. He is a deep thinker driven to understand the fears, concerns, beliefs and motivations of Christians better. Through the Mission Gap Project, Geoff hopes to encourage believers to step beyond the safety of their comfort zones and love others for Christ.Transcript: Series one, episode three: The Body of Christ. Geoff:As the body of Christ, we are living members of Christ's crucified, resurrected, and ascended body. In the New Testament, Paul describes our unity as the work of the Holy Spirit in the creation of a new humanity, which functions under Christ's leadership. It is the Spirit who guides and gifts and graces us with unique and precious gifts given to us for ministry.Reader 2:1 Corinthians 12 to 14: there is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn't matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.Geoff:Let's hear from Glenn. He reminds us that each of us have unique and precious gifts, which are given to us by the Spirit. I asked him how we should think about our uniqueness as the body of Christ and our service to the larger body as a whole.Glenn:The image when Paul uses the body, there were some Roman politicians who had used that image to talk about the citizens of an area of a city, except that they would use it as a way to manipulate people and to keep people buried down to sort of say, "You're a cog in the machine, but let's find a gentler way to say that." And so sadly, sometimes Christians hear that image the same way. "You're the body of Christ. So hey, just do your part. And you may be insignificant, but just do your part." Actually, the way that logic works for Paul is the other way around that the parts of the body that are hidden end up being the most essential, end up being the most critical. So what we have to believe is that every one of us were saved on purpose.Glenn:Every one of us were called on purpose. God did not... We weren't sort of collateral damage in the victory of the King where He said, "Okay, I get you, too. Well, okay, sure. Fine. Come on in." No, He deliberately chose and saved each one of us. And so, that means he has a purpose for us to fulfill. So, Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew word messiah, mashiach, which means the anointed one. And so, Christ is the anointed one. So the body of Christ is we're the body of the anointed one. And in the book of Acts, you realize we're not just the body of the anointed one, the same Spirit that anointed Jesus has anointed His followers so that the mission of Jesus continues through the body of Christ, the body of the anointed one.Glenn:So there's a tremendous dignity there in knowing that the Holy Spirit has anointed you so that through you, the mission of God continues. And it might seem like a small part. It might seem like an insignificant part. It might seem like a hidden part. But together it makes up the body of Christ. So that there's the dignity of the purpose. But there's also the plurality of the gift, which you've alluded to.Glenn:And when Paul talks about the body of Christ, he goes very quickly and to talking about spiritual gifts. And of course, it's not an exhaustive list there in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, but the idea is this plurality of gifts means that each of us get to contribute in our own way. Everybody has a role to play in the announcement. The evangelism of the Kingdom, the announcement of the good news. We're all missionaries, we're all evangelists. We're all part of the mission of God advancing in the world, wherever we are, school teachers, businessmen, moms, and dads, raising kids, wherever we are, we're part of that mission. So, there is no second class citizenship, as it were, there is the same Holy Spirit that has anointed us for the same mission. But with multiple gifts.Reader 2:John 15:5-7: I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit apart from me, you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples.Geoff:Decio told me about when he first began serving as part of God's mission. He didn't feel equipped or ready. In fact, he wasn't sure what role he would play in the body of Christ. Here's a bit of his story.Decio:I felt very inadequate. I felt I am not made for this. I don't know why I'm here. I don't have any experience. I don't have the training. I'm so young. I am not actually living a great Christian life. The image that came to me was John 15, the vine. And later, as I read that passage and reflected on it, it really helped me greatly. And here is an image of the body of Christ, but in the picture of a tree or a vine and how it grows as it is rooted in Christ, how Christ works to purify, change it, God using His son and His sacrifice to forgive us and renew us, give us new life that enables us to become productive and to look good and beautiful.Decio:Then he talks about what I was saying just a while ago. God's glory being manifested through His creation, through His people. So as I looked at that, for me, it was such a powerful message that brought me a lot of encouragement in terms of understanding my equipping and what God had already given me to be able to be part of His plans and His mission. Helped me to understand the idea of the body of Christ functioning, how Christ works on His body, builds His body, changes His body purifies and cleanses His body and makes it fruitful and useful. And it's not as much as being great spiritual people. It is as being rooted and being close to Him, letting Him work in us, enabling us.Geoff:We hear a lot about being called into ministry and we see people in roles that attract attention. Katherine challenged this assumption when I talked to her about her thoughts on the body of Christ and the roles that we play within it.Katherine:Yeah. The body of Christ. I mean, I think we've done a poor job of modeling this in local churches. You know, we've continued to uphold there are people who are specially called. Those are our pastors and clergy, and then there's the rest of us. But I think what... I just think it's so much more than that. And I think my experience of that has been being blessed by people who don't have any kind of holy orders or any sense of calling, people who have literally spoken to my reality. Part of my sense of knowing what I'm supposed to do in God's economy is listening to what other people call out in me. When people consistently say, "You're really articulate in this way," or, "I just was really touched by the thing that you said." Over time that accumulates and you go, gee, there must be something there.Katherine:So I think sometimes it's not just this individual, "I got to hear it from God," but it's what are other people affirming in me that I'm gifted at? And that I, myself, enjoy. And maybe that's God's invitation to go use that to love my neighbor and serve my neighbor. It's like, you don't have to add something, some other skillset to what you everyday get up and do, and the way you think and see the world in order to be part of God's work. You just start listening to the things that you already naturally do and enjoy, and where your heart breaks. What makes you cry? What makes you weep?Katherine:Those things that just come from us are evidence of the design. They're evidence of God's Holy Spirit in us. So you don't have to add on, "Oh, gee, I got to go get a Bible degree," or whatever that extra thing may be that you think you need. "I have to be more righteous or give just tons and tons of money to qualify." You are within yourself because of God's redeeming work and the Holy Spirit's abiding presence. You possess things already. You don't have to add onto it.Geoff:You've been listening to the Made For podcast series, part of the Mission Gap Project from Operation Mobilization with me, Geoff. To find out more, go to missiongap.org. And if you would, please rate this podcast in your app store and leave a comment so others can more easily find this series. In the next episode: